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If you want to win, hit it early. If you're playing in Olympics, hit it late or not at all.

Jokes aside though, you generally hit the shuttle at the earliest opportunity unless for example, you are trying to be deceptive or in a jump smash where you'd want to be coming down from the highest point when you strike the shuttle.

Also, in most shots you don't want to have your arm 100% fully extended to prevent injury, so technically you could hit the shot a fraction earlier, but you don't to protect your joints.

For me, its all about the timing difference, foot work moving from the net to the back of the court and do a jump smash.. beware of the turning point, when u land , you right leg and body must be always really to move forward.

should I, when i am at the rear court, smash the shuttle at the highest point or should i smash it as early as possible?

Originally Posted by pcll99

thanks everyone. i was speaking generally.

let's say there is a lift by the opponent. I may be able to rush up to the net and hit it early (but just may be.) Or, I may stay at the back and smash it at the rear. what should i do?

When performing a smash, addressing the birdie at its highest point and addressing the birdie at its earliest opportunity are 2 different scenario that has different outcome. Once the birdie goes beyond the net-cord into your court, one must understand that its path follows certain trajectory route that has its own specific velocity and height. The manner in how you will address this incoming birdie along its path (your smashing preparation) will determine the quality of your smash. Therefore:

1. Addressing the birdie early

In regards with performing a smash, addressing the birdie early along its path will certainly give you a higher chance of producing a more winning smash. This is because, by addressing it earlier, your view and physical position is more optimal (since the birdie is visually located in front of you) thus producing a more solid contact that will unload a more solid smash that has a :

- Higher chance of being valid since its distance is closer to the net
- Higher chance to be more accurate since your view and physical position is more optimal thus giving comfortable viewing space between you, the incoming birdie and the area of target in order to pin down the area you want to place your smash.
- More momentum power will be sustained in your smash since the distance that it needs to travel is far shorter since you're addressing it early as to compare if you take it late

Therefore if you're preparing yourself to do a smash, regardless of which path that the birdie will follow, be it a lift or a clear..........do address it at its earliest opportunity regardless of where is your stance location situated inside the court ( be it at your rear court, mid court or front court) and this goes the same for any of your other hits.

Sometimes, a very good player is able to even perform a smash at the birdie's earliest path from a lift done by his opponent and such "anticipation" is not an easy skill to do.

2. Addressing the birdie at its highest point

You can address the birdie at its highest point by elevating yourself with a jump but this doesn't necessarily mean that you're addressing it at its earliest opportunity if the point of birdie - racket contact is not optimally visualize in front of you but instead it's on top or worst beyond your forehead if that's where the highest height of the birdie seems to be located along its path.

As earlier said, the path that the birdie travels will follows certain trajectory route that has its own specific velocity and height. If you've already optimally position yourself at the rear court to do a smash:

- you not necessarily need to address the birdie at its highest point to produce quality smash but still can simply wait it and let it's velocity and height reduced and its path decline towards you and your birdie-racket contact should be in front of you to produce that solid hit........or
- you also can add that height component into your smash from your elevation i.e jumping that will certainly add extra flare from the point of angle (steepness) into your smash however, this quality can only be produce if the manner of your racket contact and jumping angle is incline towards the incoming birdie (angle of jump and racket contact is in front, a scene terms as "attacking the birdie").

Sometimes we notice that very good player is also able to perform a smash while the birdie is at it's earliest path such as from a lift or push. Such "anticipation" is not an easy skill to do but unless if you're playing double and covering the front court, anticipating to do a smash as a kill from such return or any other return is worth learning.

In summary, addressing the birdie at its earliest opportunity (or smash early as to follow your thread) will be the priority that you must learn in order to produce quality smash and while able to do this then added it with an elevation (jump or smash high) will certainly make the quality of your smash even better.

Sometimes we notice that very good player is also able to perform a smash while the birdie is at it's earliest path such as from a lift or push. Such "anticipation" is not an easy skill to do but unless if you're playing double and covering the front court, anticipating to do a smash as a kill from such return or any other return is worth learning.

SS

Hi, I totally agreed with the above, and I'm really admired professional players like Hendra Setiawan as he could well "anticipate" and intercept the shuttle at the front court with ease. The interception is often overhead / forehand smash at the front court, and I am wondering how he could easily do that.